Sterile containers are used in medicine, in particular surgery, to sterilize surgical instruments, implants and the like as well as to briefly store them after sterilization and also for transportation purposes. Items to be sterilized are placed in the container interior. The container is closed by putting the container lid onto the container bottom, and then the container is placed in a sterilizer along with the items for sterilization contained inside it, where the container interior is exposed to a sterilizing gas such as steam. The gas admission is generally carried out through special filter elements. Gas exchange outside the sterilizer after sterilization is to be avoided so as to prevent recontamination. The container lid is sealed from the container bottom for this reason.
In a closed sterile container, negative pressure can be generated inside the container on closure, in particular if a compressible seal is used between the container lid and bottom. This effect can be reinforced by cooling the atmosphere in the interior of the container, in particular by means of a vacuum phase normally applied after sterilization at the end of the sterilization cycle. Disadvantageously, if a user wishes to open the container lid after sterilization without waiting, this can only be done with difficulty or is impossible due to the lower internal pressure in the container interior as compared to the environmental pressure. In this case, a delay is required until pressure equalization has occurred between the container interior and the environment, for example by leakage or via the filter elements.
A plastic sterile container for flash sterilization is also familiar from the state of the art which comprises a ventilation valve positioned in the lid of the sterile container. This is to be activated manually after sterilization by a user so as to equalize the pressure between the interior of the container and the environment. The ventilation valve is configured as a single-section silicon component, positioned in the container lid in a star-shaped recess. By means of manual activation, the silicon component can be deformed and displaced in the direction of the container interior in such a way that a bypass is created to ventilate the sterile container. Disadvantageously, the ventilation valve mounted in the container lid is freely accessible and unprotected and can be activated at any time. It is not possible to detect either a manipulation of the ventilation valve after sterilization or the associated penetration of environmental air potentially contaminated with germs. For this, care must always be taken to ensure that sterility is guaranteed in the container interior. What is more, the ventilation valve can be accidentally activated, e.g. when the container is being handled.